Navigating between art and politics, an intermediate view

Wednesday was the opening night of the three-day conference What's Art Got To Do With It? on art, politics, and Israel/Palestine.
How do you open a conference on a loaded topic that everyone, especially from the sidelines, has an opinion on? With music. Because how can you be against it?
The evening began amiably with a short performance by the Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra, a modern version of 11th-century Moorish music, with Islamic, Jewish and Christian influences. Safe, but not boring.

The opening lecture was given by Ronit Matalon, the Israeli writer with a personal story of how to navigate between art and propaganda. She writes personal histories and told a personal story. About growing up in rural Israel. But above all, she talks about her struggle to find an authentic language, one in between literary and ideological. What she looks for in her work is an in-between language that is not steeped in Zionism and ideology. Or, in her words: ideology is not a matzo ball you can throw into the soup at will. It is in the broth.

Art without dogma

Kristine Hemmerechts had been asked to formulate a response to Matalon's lecture. And that was that art is more or less hostage to political correctness. The fear of offending anyone is so great that no great novels have been published in America. A bold statement. Her appeal is not to be shackled by ideology or political agendas, without being blind to the world around you. Not dogma but art. Sounds nice, but I wonder if that is possible in Israel or the occupied territories.

The reactions from the audience were, unsurprisingly, fierce. Where was the occupation of Palestinian territories in this story? Why was it not about a cultural boycott?
And, Palestinian choreographer Nadia Arouri wondered, why was there no Palestinian artist at the opening night? If this is a reflection of how the organisation sees the conference, she had little desire to attend any further. For Palestinian participants, it is difficult to travel and easy to lose job and income. Surely a little more attention is the least they could do. And so the personal is political again. Good to remember, when for most Dutch people politics are stories.

A spirited conversation

Thursday was the day for the 30 participants to discuss art and politics with each other. Largely behind closed doors, but tonight (Friday 1 May) we can hear the conclusions.
I was allowed to be at part of the discussions and a few things struck me. First, that the European perspective is so fundamentally different from that from Israel/Palestine. This is an open door of course but one to dwell on. It is the difference between story and reality. We can sympathise with a story and with people. But there is a limit to what you can achieve with your empathy.
Choreographer Nir de Volff said everything he makes is interpreted politically because he is from Israel. Syrian playwright George Elias Tobal omits his religion and origin from his announcements because everyone automatically assumes he is Muslim. Fun to play with. Both now live in Europe and can look at their country of origin with some distance. But how much distance can you have when your family loses its home?

That was the question raised by Udi Aloni's film Art/Violence. A moving portrait of his friend and comrade Juliano Mer-Khamis, founder of the Peace Theatre in the Palestinian city of Jenin. Mer-Khamis was murdered. One of his actors died from the bullets he had had in his body for years. Everyone involved in the Freedom Theatre has been traumatised. So can art still mean anything? Yes. Art can give Palestinians back their identity.
Soon I will hear what else art can do. To be continued.